OpenAI Research Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 6 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at OpenAI.
OpenAI
Research Engineer
Mid Average Neutral experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Coding
it begins with an HR screen then a technical screen I applied online on their website. Process wasn’t bad people were friendly - the interviewer seemed kind of zoned out though during the technical screen.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Nice interview process, friendly, I was asked to code up a data loader and also write the needed tests for it.
OpenAI
Research Engineer
Mid Average Positive experience No offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Coding
a recruiter reached out talking about team match, then there was a hiring manager screen with the team I was interested in, after that a technical interview checking general coding skills, and then more technical interviews focused on ML
Confirmed questions1 question
- an implementation focused leetcode style problem involving manipulating arrays
OpenAI
Research Engineer
Mid Average Positive experience No offer 2 rounds About a month
Interview process
Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Coding Behavioral
ML Coding and Data Round: I did the technical screening round, and it was pretty simple and straightforward with only pandas-focused questions. Strangely they didn’t ask any actual ML coding questions. Hiring Manager Round: This round was mainly to check overall fit for the role.
Confirmed questions1 question
- ML Coding and Data Round: Mostly pandas-based data cleaning and selection problems. Hiring Manager Round: Questions about projects that are relevant to the role.
OpenAI Research Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from OpenAI interview reports.
“Nice interview process, friendly, I was asked to code up a data loader and also write the needed tests for it.”
Read reports →“ML Coding and Data Round: Mostly pandas-based data cleaning and selection problems. Hiring Manager Round: Questions about projects that are relevant to the role.”
Read reports →“Talk about your previous research experience.”
Read reports →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 6 OpenAI interview reports.